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Posted 22 September 2011 - 04:52 PM

I don't know what questions were asked (haven't yet seen an article that specified what was asked), what kind of food the survey participants like to eat, or what these rankings are supposed to do for consumers.

Am I going to move to another major metropolitan area because of a survey? No.

Am I going to stop dining out because other people rated Sacramento so low? No.

Are there outstanding restaurants in Sacramento that I frequent and will continue to frequent? Yes.

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I would agree. We have some good restaurants, but the selection of great places is pretty limited and we tend to lack places that innovate. Most seem to serve slight variations of the same old things. As we've discussed before... the Sacramento Valley is a chain restaurant lovin' kinda place.

My wife and I have been known to plan dining as a major facet of vacations. One of my favorites is Boston. So much good food and so many places to choose from. Maui is probably my second favorite place for dining out.

"Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!" -- George Carlin

I would agree. We have some good restaurants, but the selection of great places is pretty limited and we tend to lack places that innovate. Most seem to serve slight variations of the same old things. As we've discussed before... the Sacramento Valley is a chain restaurant lovin' kinda place.

My wife and I have been known to plan dining as a major facet of vacations. One of my favorites is Boston. So much good food and so many places to choose from. Maui is probably my second favorite place for dining out.

We have been to Biba's in Sacramento 3 times in the past 10 years
and the food and decor were great.

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I ignore most survey results of this kind. Just like I ignore anything written by a professional critic. I've never known a critic to have any sense of humor, so they typically rip any slapstick comedy to shreds. I don't know if this survey was limited to Sacramento City limits or the greater Sacramento metropolitan area, but when it comes to the latter (which would include Folsom), I find there are plenty of places I can go and enjoy dining out, whether it be a chain or a little hole in the wall. Is it Frisco, NO, but then I wouldn't want to live in Frisco either, so driving to Frisco for dinner isn't likely to happen.

I think it's bunk. The suburbs are a vast wasteland of chains, yes. But that's true anywhere. I actually think Midtown & the Sac downtown dining scene is excellent. IMO, it's the best thing Sac has done in the past ten years, hands down n

That was a bogus survey and it has no credibility. They had a whopping 4000 respondents who they say spoke for the entire nation about all restaurants?? That's a poor response to the survey when you consider we are a nation of millions with hundreds of thousands of restaurants.

I'd like to see the data on how many respondents per city they received.

It you take 4000 responses, divide it by 50 states, that would equal 80 people surveyed per state. We know it's not exactly equal because interest is the #1 factor and it's highly likely much more people responded who live in heavily populated areas - such as NYC, Boston and San Francisco then in semi rural areas like say.... Sacramento. Detroit just sucks in general so it's a given they got last place, but Sacramento did not deserve to be 2nd to last. Those of us who enjoy fine dining know better, we have Tower Bridge Bistro, The Kitchen, Ella's, and many more great places.

My bet is they had 100+ respondents for big towns like NYC, and probably 5-10 respondents from Sacramento, of which half were bitter people who just like to complain....

If anything, the results show the difference between a vertical town like NYC where there are a ton of restaurants in a compact area compared to a horizontal town where everything is spread out and farther apart.

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Posted 23 September 2011 - 07:09 AM

That was a bogus survey and it has no credibility. They had a whopping 4000 respondents who they say spoke for the entire nation about all restaurants?? That's a poor response to the survey when you consider we are a nation of millions with hundreds of thousands of restaurants.

I'd like to see the data on how many respondents per city they received.

It you take 4000 responses, divide it by 50 states, that would equal 80 people surveyed per state. We know it's not exactly equal because interest is the #1 factor and it's highly likely much more people responded who live in heavily populated areas - such as NYC, Boston and San Francisco then in semi rural areas like say.... Sacramento. Detroit just sucks in general so it's a given they got last place, but Sacramento did not deserve to be 2nd to last. Those of us who enjoy fine dining know better, we have Tower Bridge Bistro, The Kitchen, Ella's, and many more great places.

My bet is they had 100+ respondents for big towns like NYC, and probably 5-10 respondents from Sacramento, of which half were bitter people who just like to complain....

If anything, the results show the difference between a vertical town like NYC where there are a ton of restaurants in a compact area compared to a horizontal town where everything is spread out and farther apart.

Precisely. But it's funny to me how many people take survey "findings" at face value. We know nothing about the survey, what the questions were, who the participants were, nothing.

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Volunteer, Court Appointed Special Advocate for Sacramento CASA * I Am for the Child
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I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~ Edward Everett Hale

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~ Anne Frank

Precisely. But it's funny to me how many people take survey "findings" at face value. We know nothing about the survey, what the questions were, who the participants were, nothing.

I've been searching to find the data but there's nothing out there, which leads me to further believe this survey was bogus. From what I can tell they didn't really do a survey but instead based it mostly on the number of coupons sold. So if they sold 1000 coupons for a pizza joint and only 100 for a gourmet seafood restaurant then they somehow determined the people in that city only like pizza and not seafood. They seem to forget it's a coupon site and people buying coupons are looking to save money, pizza is always cheaper then gourmet seafood.

They didn't survey all restaurants nor the number of customers who actually visit them, they only based this so called survey entirely on the number of coupons they've sold so they only know about their own customers. They seem to forget that not all people who go out to eat buy coupons off Living Social.

I did find this article about Seattle's input on the survey which cements my thoughts about the results....

A survey released Thursday from daily-deal site LivingSocial reports Seattleites ranked their city third from the bottom when it comes to restaurants. Of cities surveyed, only Sacramento and Detroit (dead last) thought more poorly of their dining-out options.

The cities with the most foodie pride: New York, Chicago and San Francisco. (Surprised? Not so much.)

Despite Seattle's shockingly low opinion of local eateries, the survey revealed a few more tidbits about what's on Seattle's plate.

A few more LivingSocial-specific details about how Seattle eats: The most popular food-related coupon sold through the site was for Pegasus Pizza in April, with 3,480 vouchers sold. Next, it was a Paragon voucher in July of last year with 2,961 buyers.

Nationally, Italian proved the most popular type of restaurant. Thai was the first choice for "new cuisine" and 18 percent of people describe themselves as "health nuts."

More Los Angeles residents describe themselves as "fast food junkies" than any other city, and Washington D.C. has the highest percentage of vegetarians.

Well I know personally the dining in Folsom took a major nosedive when Goodfellas closed up shop.

Any plans to re-open someday?

One can hope, can't I.

Thanks...no plans on re-opening anytime soon. Catering is keeping me so busy. We are now Goodfellas4kids, serving Healthy Lunch to kids...

I've been searching to find the data but there's nothing out there, which leads me to further believe this survey was bogus. From what I can tell they didn't really do a survey but instead based it mostly on the number of coupons sold. So if they sold 1000 coupons for a pizza joint and only 100 for a gourmet seafood restaurant then they somehow determined the people in that city only like pizza and not seafood. They seem to forget it's a coupon site and people buying coupons are looking to save money, pizza is always cheaper then gourmet seafood.

They didn't survey all restaurants nor the number of customers who actually visit them, they only based this so called survey entirely on the number of coupons they've sold so they only know about their own customers. They seem to forget that not all people who go out to eat buy coupons off Living Social.

I did find this article about Seattle's input on the survey which cements my thoughts about the results....

A survey released Thursday from daily-deal site LivingSocial reports Seattleites ranked their city third from the bottom when it comes to restaurants. Of cities surveyed, only Sacramento and Detroit (dead last) thought more poorly of their dining-out options.

The cities with the most foodie pride: New York, Chicago and San Francisco. (Surprised? Not so much.)

Despite Seattle's shockingly low opinion of local eateries, the survey revealed a few more tidbits about what's on Seattle's plate.

A few more LivingSocial-specific details about how Seattle eats: The most popular food-related coupon sold through the site was for Pegasus Pizza in April, with 3,480 vouchers sold. Next, it was a Paragon voucher in July of last year with 2,961 buyers.

Nationally, Italian proved the most popular type of restaurant. Thai was the first choice for "new cuisine" and 18 percent of people describe themselves as "health nuts."

More Los Angeles residents describe themselves as "fast food junkies" than any other city, and Washington D.C. has the highest percentage of vegetarians.

Sacto does have many chains, but there are lots of good, independent joints too from the obvious places in midtown to unsuspected hole in the walls in boring strip malls throughout the region. I've been following some of the local websites/blogs that talk about this subject...lots of good info out there. OR, if one is really adventurous, you could start your own search & blog about it like this guy Eating through Roseville